Steve Kettmann, Cruzin’: Santa Cruzans hit the campaign trail

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If all went as planned Saturday morning, two vans and assorted individual cars together rolled out of 701 Ocean St. in Santa Cruz in a group put together by longtime local activist Harvey Dosik. They were on their way, en masse, to the Central Valley to try to make a difference in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Dosik, born in Brooklyn in 1938, is one of many activists well into retirement age around the country who, seeing Trump for the threat to democracy he is, have made it a personal mission to have some influence on voter behavior.

“I just can’t stand by and watch what’s going on in this country without doing my best to try to change it,” he told me this week. “My challenge is to do what I can do and leave the rest up to the gods.

Democratic Rep. Jimmy Panetta, who seems on his way to a greater national profile, like his father before him, does not need any help. But over in the 22nd Congressional District in Fresno County, where the bizarre Devin Nunes holds a gerrymandered seat, challenger Andrew Janz is very happy for some get-out-the-vote help. He’s down in the polls, but believes — he and his staff have both told me — that he can pull it out. The only way that could would happen would be through very strong voter turnout among Democrats and independents.

Dosik has been making repeated canvassing visits to the 22nd district all year long with groups of people from Santa Cruz. They went in April, May, July and twice in September. In October, they took a little break from Fresno County and traveled to Reno, Nevada, to canvass for Senate candidate Jacky Rosen, who according to a recent CNN poll had a narrow edge over tone-deaf Republican incumbent Dean Heller. Yes, that’s the same Dean Heller who called Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Brett Kavanaugh “a hiccup.”

This weekend Dosik is in Fresno County with his group of two dozen plus, going door to door to talk to Democrats about making sure to get out to vote. The idea is most definitely not to get into arguments with any Trump lovers in the streets Dosik and the others will be canvassing. The idea is to review the basics of having one’s voice heard — and counted.

“We’re making our final push,” he said. “For us it’s most important to have boots on the ground.”

Included in Dosik’s group will be six UC Santa Cruz students, sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Others in Santa Cruz have made canvassing trips to other districts such as the 10th district, where Democratic challenger Josh Harder seems to have a narrow lead over Turlock Republican Jeff Denham.

Nunes has a much more commanding lead in the 22nd, double digits in some polls, but a challenge to him isn’t just about trying to win the seat, it’s about serving notice that the Nunes approach is not sustainable. Put simply, he socks away tons of money from corporate interests, ignores his district and grandstands in Washington on an all-star team of greatest Trump enablers, seeking star billing in the rogues’ gallery that will enliven the great reckoning of the Trump era that will come due.

History will probably render a devastating verdict on Nunes for prematurely shutting down his Intelligence Committee’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. When the so-called Nunes Memo was released earlier this year, Janz’ fundraising totals surged — and his has been the best-funded challenge Nunes has ever faced.

“Since April, my little group has been going, and the response has been great,” Dosik told me.

“You knock on the door, you say, ‘Hi, I’m Harvey, I’m working with the Janz campaign, he’s the Democrat running against Nunes,’ and the look on peoples’ faces is: At last someone is challenging him!”

Janz, a young Fresno County prosecutor who has put his career on hold to make this run, told me he’s not at all sure that if he falls short in his challenge this year to Nunes, he’ll run again. That may depend on how close he comes.

My prediction: Too many will urge him to run again for Janz to say no. And that will be good for democracy, because voters deserve a choice, not just a rigged system that rewards powerful incumbents with seats so safe, they can laugh off any challenger. Janz may pull off the upset — but even if he doesn’t, he’s someone to watch, and believe me, Nunes can strike whatever cocky pose his mentor inspires in him, but he’s looking over his shoulder.

Steve Kettmann is co-director of the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods writers retreat center in Soquel, www.wellstoneredwoods.org. Follow him on Twitter at @SteveKettmann and DM column ideas.